Daijiworld Media Network—Mangalore (DV)
Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje/Spoorthi Ullal
Video : Muddu Krishna
Mangalore, Aug 28: Thousands of parents with their little children dressed as ‘Lord Krishna’, the eighth ‘Avatar’ of Lord Vishnu, thronged the city’s Manjunatheswara Temple in Kadri for ‘Shri Krishna Vesha’ competition organized by Kalkura Prathistana on the occasion of ‘Shri Krishna Janmashtami’.
The main intention of this programme was to preserve the culture of the land, to commemorate the childhood pranks of Krishna and values taught by him.
The entire temple complex was flooded with zealous and enthusiastic competitors dressed as Lord Shri Krishna in colorful attire.
There were 18 competitions like ‘Kanda Krishna’, ‘Muddu Krishna’, ‘Thunta Krishna’, ‘Devaki Krishna’, ‘Yashodha Krishna’, ‘Vasudev Krishna’, ‘Radha Krishna’, ‘Yaksha Krishna’, ‘Balakrishna’, ‘Kishora Krishna’, ‘Shri Krishna’, ‘Nandha Gokula’ group, ‘Geeta Krishna’, and so on. On this occasion, a still photography competition was also organized for photographers.
Thousands of people avidly participated in this programme involving their children in various competitions.
On this occasion, talking with media software engineer from Bangalore Shwetha N Rao who came along with her 8-month-old baby Nirbhay to perform in ‘Yashodha Krishna’ category said, “I was keenly interested in participating in this programme. Even I used to take participate in various dance programmes. This is the first time I am coming here to take participate. This is part of our culture.”
On this occasion, S Pradeep Kumar Kalkura said, “About 1,500 participants have already entered their names and others will join in till evening.
At the end of the day, more than 2,000 participants may participate in this programme. This is the 29th celebration of Sri Krishna Janmashtami organized by Kalkura Prathistana. The intention of this programme is to create awareness about the great culture and heritage of this nation. Earlier, people had an inferiority complex in celebrating Sri Krishna Janmashtami. But today, the trend has changed and people in metropolitan cities are celebrating this occasion. We are also giving small Krishna idols as mementos which people can carry anywhere they want. This memento also signifies the values he had preached.”
This programme was inaugurated by A J Shetty in the divine presence of Kateel Gopala Krishna Asranna. Jayalakshmi Alva, M B Puranik, and Kadri Navanith Shetty were also present on this occasion.